68k Mentat

Echoes of an Alien Sky, by James Hogan

Rating: alright, probably not worth a re-read

Plot

Long in the future, Venutians have landed on Earth and begun archaeological work. Their society is less aggressive and impulsive, and they theorize about why the Earth species went exctinct. There is a progressive man who learns how to be a successfull terrorist, propagandist, etc. and wants to hold a violent revolution. There is a mysterious bunker on the moon, and research reveals that there was also a hidden storage location somewhere in North America. Ultimately, they learn that Humanity was all but wiped out by an engineered virus, which was preserved in those airtight bunkers, so when Humans returned to Earth the first time they were infected all over again; then, they traveled to the now-livable Venus and colonized it.

Dialog

Not great; people’s motives and reasonings rarely feel natural.

Politics

The person who believes in equal opportunity is the terrorist. I kept wondering if it was an attempt at “role reversal” which was poorly implemented.

Women

Weird references to “hey, men need women to keep us in line! gender roles are good.” if it’s satire, it’s again poorly executed and embarrassing. I think he tried to be good, but ultimately the women are pretty flat/objectified.